>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late breaking -- this is 11 news at noon. >> a deadly fire in northeast baltimore. five people reported killed, four of them children. a very tragic story. jennifer franciotti has been following the story all morning and has the latest. >> you can see the remains of this house behind me with debris on the deck. family members described a very dramatic scene, including a stepfather who had to jump for his life and a mother who had to throw her own baby out a window to safety. utter devastation for a family grieving the loss of four small children and their grandmother. the scene on that the 5600 block of denwood avenue was caught on cell phone video by a neighbor. he describes waking up to sirens

and smoke. >> smoke, fire. you could see the fire coming out of the windows. the fire department was trying to get it out the best they can. >> 10 people were reportedly inside the house when it caught fire around 2:00 a.m. several had to jump from windows. >> she jumped out. >> with reports of children trapped inside, firefighters went to the second floor. they encountered problems of their own there. >> firefighters went through the conditions to suppress the fire and get to the second floor where it was reported that people are. during that time, the firefighter fell through the second floor into the basement, on to another firefighter. >> but firefighters rescued and sent to the hospital with non- life-threatening injuries. but among the dead of young children, ages 1, 3, 5, and seven. that is according to some family members who are counting their unimaginable losses. >> my nieces and nephews and my

mother and my stepfather. >> back live here at the scene, according to family members, they're absolutely distraught. the red cross is on the scene, helping about 30 members of this family, including many children, to deal with this tragedy. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. about three weeks ago, there was an apartment fire nearby, not far from here, that was it deemed the result of a molotov cocktail. at this point, there's no word if there is any connection to this fire here this morning. this was not the only fire the baltimore city firefighters were battling today. about an hour prior to this fire, firefighters were called to a very serious fire on a street located in the southeast portion of the city. in that fire, no civilians were injured. however, three firefighters were seriously hurt battling the fire in the basement.

ok, in that case, those three firefighters who were injured, one firefighter received burns to his face, neck, and hands. we're told another firefighter had burns to his ears. another firefighter was hurt with burns to his hands while he was holding the hose. we're told that all three fire fighters in the case are now listed in serious condition at bayview medical center. as for the two firefighters back here, they are now listed in good condition. that is the latest from northeast baltimore. back to you. >> [no audio] right near patterson park. we're talking about two baltimore city police officers recovered from minor injuries. the officers start some kind of manhole cover in the roadway. one officer was taken to shock trauma, the other to mercy medical.

both reportedly suffered from head and neck pain. a controversial -- all right, we're going to actually

>> authorities in colorado answered no questions this morning about a body found near the area where 10-rigell jessica

ridgeway was last seen. it was about 7 miles from where the fifth grader disappeared. jessica's mother says she last saw her daughter when she left for school on friday. police said no additional comments about the body during a news conference this morning but said they will continue searching today. rescue workers have freed a construction worker trapped in the rubble for about 12 hours after a parking garage collapsed at a florida college. the rescue began wednesday afternoon after the roof of a five-story garage fell, creating a pancake-style collapse at miami dade college. rescuers heard his cries from amid the rubble. emergency crews pulled the man out around 1:00 a.m. this morning. eight other workers were injured and two killed. another worker is missing and presumed dead. the scene will be survey to try to determine what caused the accident. weekend of 1 jack painter and character is all wet, but that

will not bother him because he sketched his way into the guinness book of world records by drawing 10 caricatures under water. it was the first time he had scuba dived, that he seemed at ease during 12th-feet under. he sketched all 10 models through a window in just over four minutes. four minutes, 12 seconds. he said it was not as easy as it looked but that it was fun. he is already cited by guinness as the fat is a caricatureist in the world. impressive. in commitment 2012, the nation will turn its focus to the candidates for second-in-command tonight. the first and only vice- presidential debate starts at 9:00 p.m. tracie potts has a look at the latest numbers and what we can expect heading into tonight's a face-off. >> you're ready for tomorrow night? >> paul ryan says he is ready to take on the vice president. >> we think he will come at me like a cannonball.

[inaudible] >> ryan design kentucky after several days of debate in florida and virginia -- is in kentucky. the vice-president has been in a delaware, studying ryan's books, speeches, and his budget. >> i want to make sure that when i say these things, that i do not say them say, no, no, i do not have that position. >> there is a lot of pressure on vice-president joe biden to take the fight to paul ryan in an attempt to slow mitt romney's momentum from last week's debate. >> the white house not addressing the president's performance in november but says this about next week's presidential debate. >> it is not about him or his opponent, not about one party or the other. it is about, what would you do? what will you do when you get into office? >> tonight, the number two men face off. pew research 551% view vice- president joe biden unfavorably,

more than writing, and more think ryan will win tonight's debate. >> tracie potts, wbal-tv 11 news. >> still to come, many cases of overdose of the result of unwanted medications. how you can safely dispose of them in medical alert. >> the skies are clear across the mid-atlantic, but another storm system is approaching. we will talk about how this affects our forecast going into the weekend. a live look outdoors, a beautiful. chilly, 57 downtown.

♪ >> well, a lot less magic riding

behind the orioles in wednesday night's game in the bronx. this only happened twice this year. the yankees trailed by 1 heading into the ninth, and that is in the yankees' manager pulled a rod from the plate and allowed a pinch-hitter to come in. he tied the game with one swing in that sense the game into extra innings. the second home run of the game in the bottom of the 12th. new york over baltimore, 3-2. the yankees' lead the five-game series, two games to one. >> now, your 11 insta-weather + forecast, with meteorologist ava marie. >> first, i want to talk about the temperatures of around our area. 56 degrees add bwi thurgood marshall. it is 57 downtown. pretty chilly. normally, we should be getting closer to 70 degrees into the afternoon.

nobody close to that right now. 57 in ocean city. only 52 in westminster. in the western part of the state, oakland at 43 degrees. a big change in the temperatures, and that was behind yesterday's cold front. you probably did not notice the front as it did not bring a lot of precipitation, only a few clouds. but it did drop the temperatures. as we look at the red deer, we have a large area of high pressure in control, bringing in the sunshine -- as we look at the radar. bringing some signed all the way up into new york city, where the orioles will play tonight. good news for the forecast there, as we're expecting it to be a quiet day. weather should not be an issue or the day. high pressure in control east. another storm system pushing across the plains. the cold front draping from upper michigan into the dakotas and pushing it to nebraska. this is the next cold front we have to watch out for. but it will probably not bring a lot of rain. it will continue to bring in that chilly air out of canada.

let's talk about the game tonight. the orioles at yankee stadium. the game starts at 7:30 p.m. temperatures will be on the cool side. around the 50's. at least we will have a lot of sunshine. temperatures will still be in the 50's even as we wrap up the game. the forecast in the next couple of days, we will watch the cold front about of the great lakes region. showers up in pennsylvania. it falls apart as it moves through baltimore. same case into new york city. if we continue the series into friday, that is or expect the weather to be dry as well. good news for the orioles. that high pressure system leads us into saturday, just in time for the baltimore running festival. it will be on the chilly side. that second shot in cold air drops is down to the 30's and 40's for the overnight lows. downtown will be just a little warmer, starting off near 44 for the marathon.

as the srt to wrap up the race, temperatures should be climbing into the 50's. overall, sunshine throughout the day. definitely want to dress in layers at that event. seven-day forecast, 42 tonight. 64, dimar. sunny on saturday. sunday, a few more clouds. next chance for rain on monday. >> in medical alert, the number of confirmed meningitis infections in maryland climbed to nine. the governor of massachusetts says the pharmacy responsible may have stepped outside of licensing restrictions. this interesting connected to the steroid use in contaminated injections that has sickened more than 130 people in 10 states. the governor says the pharmacy was supposed to fill specific prescriptions but instead made big batches of medication and sold them out of state. he says that was outside of the company's state license. the compounding center has not responded to the allegations but

has shut down operations. so far, 12 people have died from the outbreak. one of those patients was from maryland. many cases a prescription drug overdose are because unwanted medications are improperly stored at home. disposing of unwanted and unused prescriptions could end up saving a life, but it can be dangerous to flush them or throw them in the garbage. renee tells us how to get rid of them safely. >> sargent johnson is in a surge of the medicine disposal box. it is more than a job. it is a personal mission. >> you never think it will affect your family, but i have a 19-year-old nephew that he and his friends decided to take some prescription pills that did not belong to them. they cut them into thirds and each one of them took part. there were drinking alcohol with it. unfortunately, my neck you went to bed and did not wake up. >> that that you had combined the drug with alcohol. it was his first time. >> their friend to those bills

before and thought it would be fun for everybody -- took those pills before. unfortunately, that was not the case. >> prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem. she says that is because these pills are easy to get. >> 70% of kids get them from friends and relatives. >> many counties now provide prescription drug drop-offs sites. >> this is to tap a week worth of drugs from just one location. >> one of flesh the bills are put them down the drain? trace levels of drug rev -- resident of been found in drinking water. these drugs are incinerated. sargent johnson hopes to prevent someone else from losing their loved ones and getting unused prescription drugs out of people's homes. >> take that step out of your closet, out of your medication cabinet. >> coming up next, your maryland lottery midday numbers. and we will get another check of the 11 insta-weather + forecast with ava. first, a look at how wall street

is performing at this hour.

>> welcome back. we have the doctor here from the falls road animal hospital to answer your pet questions, and she brought her own dog. what kind of dog? >> he is a schitzu mix, a mutt.

>> we have a couple questions. the first one is about athletes. are there any natural ways to remove fleas from the home? >> fleas will lay their eggs in the fall of of the animal and on to the carpet. they like fabrics. a really effective way is vacuuming. vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, three or four times a day. the carpet, the furniture, everywhere. if you vacuum, you do not necessarily have to put anything down. >> people are bombing in doing all sorts of things. >> yes, but you have to be very diligent >> i have a four-year- old golden retriever who growls when i try to take the socks from her. i am schedule by me. it can be in -- is it normal? >> it can be normal. retrievers pick things up in the

mouth and will often bring them to you. it can become a game to them. they want to wrestle or play tug of war. you can use it as a training exercise. you can use the leaves it demand, holding out a trade. and so they do not go after it and you can give it to them. you can use that with other things. when they have something in them out, say drop it. when they do, you give them a treat. >> all about training. my cat bites my mom on the armond sometimes draws blood. she is the only one he bites. why does he do this and how can we stop it? >> very good question. i do not know how all your cat is. young cats, like young dogs, like to have things in their mouth to play. it might be that he is being playful, that he is trying to get her to play back. sometimes, you know, cats and dogs, too, they might not like a scent.

i do not know she uses a certain perfume that nobody else uses. i would say, if he does not stop, put him down or do not have your mom hold him. >> thanks, doctor. if you have a that question, you can e-mail id to petquestions@wbaltv.com or visit our website wbaltv.com or send in your questions -- >> tonight on 11 news at 5, where look -- we're working to learn more about last night's did the fire that tragically claimed the lives of five people, four of them children. the latest in the search for a cause. a report on the former state lawmaker and civil rights leader, clarence mitchell iii, details on the death and one of the state's most prominent political families. game four of the alds. we hope the o's can pull out a win. now your maryland lottery midday numbers. >> ♪ the maryland lottery, let

yourself play ♪ >> go o's. et's go to your pick three game. 5. 3. final numbers, 3. 5, 3, 3. we will get to your pick four in a moment. the latest ravens fan is katie from laurel, delaware. she won $6,000. find out how you can become a fan of the game. all set and ready to go with your four numbers. 0. 3. 0. last number, 9. 0, 3, 0, 9.

the maryland lottery, let yourself play. >> thank you so much for joining us for 11 news at noon. we want to remind you to watch tonight. [captioning made possible by

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